Here is the Ann Arbor Area Historical Miniature Gaming Group at the annual New Years Eve Dinner.
We went to the Smoke House Blues restaurant in Ypsilanti.

The food was acceptable but the company was great!

We had a lot of fun, and got to meet some of the families of our fellow gamers.

Have a Happy New Year!

A fresh wind blowing in!

With the arrival of the 15mm Swiss army and the Impetus rules that they are intended for, I feel more in the mood to paint.  So, in order to keep many projects moving I have decided to break each project into small chunks, such as the Swiss into 1 Impetus unit (16 figures) etc.
I am planning on working on just 2 chunks at a time.  Currently that will be a unit of Swiss pike and the HMS Belvidera.  This will give me sosome me variety and still be able to see progress (I hope).  Once again I have found that trying to too much at one time fails miserably.  (My work bench has been occupied by movement trays for Impetus, Norman foot, Ancient Brits, 4 ships for the 1812 battle, terrain for DBA, some Welsh and
some older pieces in need of some TLC.  I have put everything but the 2 items of focus away, so I hope to be less distracted.
Random observation:  300+ 15mm Swiss figures fit in a 1 gallon ziploc bag with room to spare.

Also of note:  I recently discovered that Omega Artworks is back in business make swords and daggers.  I was at one point negotiating with them to purchase the business, but it did not work out. (Which I think has turned out for the better for all of us!)

I will get back to posting pictures of the work in progress in the next few days.

(Why does is seem that the work bench is messier now that I "cleaned it off" than it was before?)

A grumble about ordering miniatures

Back in May, after getting hired as a direct employee with the company that I have been working for as a contract employee, I decided to get myself a "good going!" gift.  So I ordered a large army of Essex 15mm Later Swiss for use with Impetus.  Instead of ordering direct from Essex in England, I ordered them from the US distributor, Wargames Minis.  I figured that I could get them sooner and then ship them out to a painting service and have them ready for play this fall.
Well, I was mistaken.  I placed the order on May 29th, and the figures arrived on September 9th.  And they were shipped to the billing address, not the ship to address.  Since I am working out of state I wanted the figures shipped to me instead of the house.
It appears that the order is complete, as it was placed in May.  I tried to add a couple of things to it last month was promised a freebie for my patience, which were not included.
During this long summer, I have stayed in touch with the owner of Wargames.  He has had a difficult summer including serious health problems.
You may ask why did I not cancel the order?  I do not have a solid answer for that other than I am a "nice"guy.
Will I order from them again. No.  But I will buy from them if they are at any of the conventions I attend.
So, here I sit in Illinois, with the army in Michigan.  I will get them next weekend.  *sigh*

Movement trays for Impetus

Here are pictures of some movement trays I am working on to use my DBA armies with the Impetus rules. Each unit in Impetus consists of either 2 or 4 stands of DBA figures. The top picture is a sample with a disorder flag marker (flag is removeable). The bottom picture shows a full unit of blades on the left and an empty tray on the right. Each tray has a magnet inserted where each DBA stand goes (the magnet is the same thickness as the tray bottom.). This will hold the figures in place and I can store the stand in a container with a steel liner and they will not slide around. Each tray will get a series of holes drilled in the raised lip for markers.

War of the Roses Armies

I recently purchased a set of painted War of the Roses armies. Here is how they were packaged. Each stand was wrapped in foam, with a cardboard "back". They arrived with only a few bent weapons and one rider seperate from his horse.
I thought it was worth showing, and a picture of one of the cannons, just because.

Bill, thank you for the time spent to pack these.

Reinforcements

After much discussion and some negotiations, a large contingent of War of the Roses English and a force of French troops have joined my growing armies.
There are enough troops for 2 English DBA armies and a French DBA army.
These will also go well with my Swiss for use with Impetus. (This assumes that the Swiss ever get here, I think they ask a rabbit for directions in Albuquerque back in June and are still lost...)

Thanks go to Bill Johnson for selling these beautiful troops to me. I look forward to using them in the field!

As for other work, I have not been able to do much as I am preparing to sell my house and move the family to Illinois, where I have found permanent gainful employment. (Yay!)

A question of scale

Recently I was asked how small are these ships?
Well, they are 1:1200 scale (1"=1200" or 100ft in scale).
And what does that mean?
This is where I think the first President can demonstrate much better than I can.
Here is the recently rigged HMS Shannon facing off with the original George W - Washington that is. He's giving those limey's that stern look that founded a nation, and started many a video game.